“The
afternoon train from the West chugged slowly into Washington’s only railroad
depot. As it clanked to a halt and began to disgorge its human cargo deafening
cheers from a thousand throats reverberated through the rafters of the old
train shed.
The focal
point of attention was a dozen tanned healthy young men carrying their own
suitcases and baseball hats. It was Washington’s leading baseball team, known
as the “Nationals,” returning from a triumphant tour of the West in which they
had won nine games and lost but one.” – Morris
A. Bealle, The Washington Senators, on the Nationals’ return home on August 3,
1867.
When a city hasn’t made
it to the post-season in a long, long time, and then they finally do, it’s
appropriate to look back at the last time its baseball team brought everybody together
in that special, sports way.
In the nation’s
capital, fans and writers are remembering several seasons in this regard. Flying high above the scoreboard behind
center field at Nationals Park is a reminder of the most often mentioned season. That would be the ’33 Senators/Nationals,
the city’s last major league pennant winner.
Some fans are pointing
to the other side of the park, where the owners have installed a “Ring of Fame.”
Running along the façade
above the lower level, you’ll find the names of Cool Papa Bell,
Ray Brown, Josh Gibson, Buck Leonard, Cum Posey, and Jud Wilson. These greats are Hall of Famers who helped
the Homestead Grays win a handful of Negro League titles in the 1940s, some while
wearing a W on their sleeves and playing some of their games at Griffith
Stadium.
Those were great baseball seasons, but as they
say, the first love can be the sweetest.
We’re talking the 1867
Washington Nationals and their grand “Tour of the West” that summer. They too are
remembered at the ballpark at South Capital and Potomac, a panel along the
third base side concourse.
In terms of articles and books, however, this
pioneering team got short shrift until the latter part of the 1990s. Frank Ceresi, owner of F.C.
Associates in Washington, rescued the Nationals from the vaults. Pouring through the Edmund F. French
collection of memorabilia, ephemera and clippings located at the Washington
Historical Society (French played for the team and served as President from
1862 to 1865.) Along with
Carol McCains, Ceresi wrote a fabulous research piece on the Nationals at his
website.
The author also touches on the team in his book, “Baseball
in Washington” (Images of America).
Frank’s book was my introduction to the team. It includes a photo
of a complimentary ticket to some of the games of the ten-game tour.
Ceresi summarizes the impact of the team this
way.
How influential were they? The fact of the matter
is that the Washington Base Ball Club would eventually help ignite a baseball
boom that, for all intents and purposes, continues to this day. Not only were
the Nationals one of the first dominant organized ball clubs in the country,
but in 1867 they would embark on a journey to the west that would sow the seeds
of the game in communities throughout the land. Further, as news of their
superb ball playing abilities on the diamond spread through the pen of
journalist Henry Chadwick, our country's first sportswriter, their popularity
and influence deepened. The result was that by the end of the decade the
Nationals became central to baseball clearly becoming, as Walt Whitman would
say, “ America 's Game.
The Nationals rescue effort got another great
boost around this same time. William
J. Ryczek, author of three books on 19th Century Baseball and the
winner of SABR’s Baseball Research Award, wrote, “When Johnny Came Sliding
Home: The Post-Civil War Baseball Boom, 1865-1870.” The author devotes a chapter to the ballclub, aptly
titled, “When We Went Westward Ho.”
Ryczek notes the role of
Arthur Poe Gorman, their second baseman who had the additional duty as team
organizer. Gorman
co-found the team and went on to become a Maryland Senator.
In his SABR Bio, Brian McKenna writes about
this forgotten early great.
The
story of baseball in the nation's capital is interlinked with the career of
Arthur P. Gorman, a name unrecognizable to today's fans. Long before Clark
Griffith made his annual trips to the White House to present the
Commander-in-Chief with his season's pass, Gorman actually befriended and
entertained the President of the United States and future Presidents with a
little ball playing on the Capitol and Executive Mansion grounds during the
1860s.
Every step of Gorman's baseball
endeavors had long-ranging significance.
The star of the team between the lines was the
legendary George Wright, regarded as the best SS and player in the game. Wright was still four years away
from batting .413 but he terrorized the pitchers he faced on the tour, and
entertained the fans by juggling baseballs before the game.
The Nationals did have local players, most
notably Will Williams, the team’s most sturdy pitcher and a graduate of
Georgetown. But
there’s no doubt the bread and butter was their tapping into Gotham and talent
elsewhere in the northeast where the game had been much less affected by the
Civil War.
Gorman arranged for the Treasury Department to employ the players. In his book, "But Didn’t We Have
Fun," Peter Morris points out this practice was unfair to the other clubs whose
working men could not get off work.
The Nationals did not play in an organized
league, so comparisons to future teams are unfair. But as Ryczek notes, “the trail-blazing Washington
club had opened up the West. They
demonstrated skills never before seen in the region.”
One of the first authors to write about the
Nationals was Morris A.Bealle. In
1947, he penned, “The Washington Senators: An 87-Year
History of the World's Oldest Baseball Club and Most Incurable Fandom.” The book
is mostly about the Senators but the Nationals are the writer’s leadoff batter. After the crowd at the train station adored the conquering
heroes, the Kirkland House hosted an evening party. The beer flowed past midnight.
Last year, the 1867 Nationals tour got the
attention of MLB baseball historian John Thorn. He writes about
them in his book, “Baseball in the Garden of Eden.” They come along
in the Chapter 6, “The National Pastime.” After the Civil War, the popularity of the game
was spreading, and changing from an amateur game to a professional sport. Thorn writes that
during this time, baseball was “a balm, the one American institution about
which all could agree.” The
Nationals’ tour inspired many others, including the Mutual Club of Washington,
D.C. Referred to by some as
the “Colored Mutes,” they played up north against a white team in 1869.
The Nationals lone blemish on their tour was a
29-23 loss to Forest City of Rockford Illinois. Talk of a fix could be heard, but little did anyone
know the budding talent on the Rockford Nine. Thorn wrote about this contest at his MLB Blog,
calling it perhaps the greatest game ever played. No doubt a stretch, but Albert Spalding
would certainly not argue. He was
on the mound that day and showed some of the stuff that would put him in the
Hall of Fame. Ross
Barnes played SS, also destined for Cooperstown.
Reaching younger fans is always a challenge for
those who write about the history of the game when it was spelled “base ball”
and pitchers threw underhanded.
Meeting that challenge is Jason
Rodriguez, who wrote, “National Pastime,” an illustrated piece (artist Charles Fetherolf)
about the team. You’ll find
it in the well-received book, “District Comics: An
Unconventional History of Washington, D.C.” (edited by Matt Dembicki)
You can also see previews at his blog.
Nationals has been a popular nickname for
Washington ball clubs, who went through all kind of shifts in the late 1880s
and then were alternately called the Senators. It’s confusing
to say the least. In 2005 the
waters were muddied even further when the Nationals began selling merchandise. One of the items on sale, a t-shirt, sported the team logo
and the slogan, “Established 1905.”
On-line board
discussions lit up with that one. Established 1905. What the heck are they talking about?
The
Expos-Nationals franchise was established in 1969. The Senators/Nationals franchise was established in
1901. Where did they get 1905
from?
I got curious
about this and decided to look through the Washington Post for some
answers. I wrote an article
at my blog in November 2005.
Marc Okkonen, an
historian with expertise knowledge of team uniforms, confirmed research
conducted by the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The 1905 American
League Senators/Nationals, who got their start in 1901, were the first
team to wear their nickname on their uniform.
Prior to that, the
Washington ballclub had been nicknamed the Senators. So how exactly did the name change come about?
Observing that the
team had a woeful record as Senators, franchise owner Thomas C. Noyes wanted a
change. The club’s
Board of Directors appointed the sports editors of the three Washington newspapers
as a committee to head up the selection process for a new name. This took place in early 1905. Fans offered names
such as the Admirals, Empires, Olympias,
and Presidents.
On March 26, the Post announced the winner.
Washington Team Rechristened “The Nationals”
The exact number of votes was not given but the article said Nationals
“had the strongest following.” The Post published several comments from the
letters.
Ted Sullivan:
The first great club that Washington had was named Nationals. This club
was one of the pioneers of baseball, and was successful; so call the club the
Nationals…”
The Nationals Grand Tour of the West marked the
ballclub’s zenith. After the
season, they disbanded.
They are mostly forgotten, but as we have seen, their legacy is an important
one. The game and the sport have come a long way
since those days of lots of errors and lopsided scores. We now live in a golden age
for fans, with more and more chances to see post-season games, and anything but
stacked teams. As we hear
the echoes of the cheers for the 2012 team, let’s remember those previous times,
and the first time a Washington baseball team covered itself in glory.
Note:
Four years ago, I was fortunate enough to publish, “Washington Ballparks,” a fantastic research piece by freelance writer Bill Wagner. Wagner noted the Nationals ball club built Washington’s first enclosed ballpark, National Grounds. It was located at 14th, 15th, S and T NW.
By the way, please email me or leave a comment if you know of any photo or sketch of that ballpark.
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